On July 24, as a city-side event of APEC Digital Week, the Expert Seminar on Building a Manufacturing Powerhouse and the Exchange Meeting on Advancing New Industrialization was held. Academicians, experts, leading industry enterprises, and representatives from high-end think tanks gathered in Chengdu to discuss how to promote new industrialization.
In March of this year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) announced the first batch of 16 cities selected to create national demonstration zones for new industrialization, with Chengdu on the list. "The national new industrialization demonstration zone serves as a test field and a model room for the transformation and upgrading of the manufacturing industry," said Zhou Ji, director of the National Strategy Advisory Committee for Building a Manufacturing Powerhouse and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. Being selected for this list, he noted, marks Chengdu's second "ticket" to a national-level manufacturing strategy after becoming one of the first pilot demonstration cities for "Made in China 2025" in the western region in 2017. This makes Chengdu one of the few cities in the country and the only one in the western region to simultaneously possess two generations of national-level demonstration resources.
So, now that Chengdu has secured this "ticket" for the new industrialization "test field," what should it do next? Attendees at the event offered their insights.
How to Build a National New Industrialization Demonstration Zone?
Zhou Ji emphasized leveraging artificial intelligence to empower new industrialization, focusing on a new generation of intelligent manufacturing as the main direction to comprehensively achieve digital transformation and intelligent upgrading of the manufacturing industry. He believes that the deep integration of AI technology with advanced manufacturing technology will evolve into intelligent manufacturing technology. This fundamentally changes the relationship between humans and information systems—shifting from giving people fish to teaching them how to fish. The new generation of intelligent manufacturing possesses capabilities for autonomous perception, decision-making, execution, and learning, making systems more precise, faster, and more reliable, and they become smarter with use.
Zhou Ji placed this change within the historical context of the Industrial Revolution: the first was steam power, the second was electric motor technology, and the third was computer digital technology. The fourth common enabling technology, he argued, is the fusion of a new generation of intelligent manufacturing technology with advanced manufacturing technology. This will lead and drive the revolutionary transformation and upgrading of the manufacturing industry, becoming the core driving force of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
Chengdu already has a foundation for this. In 2025, the city's core AI industry scale is expected to exceed 150 billion yuan, a 40% increase, with over 1,200 enterprises, propelling its comprehensive strength into the national top tier. It is advancing national pilot projects for manufacturing technological transformation, digital transformation of small and medium-sized enterprises, and the integrated application of "5G + Industrial Internet," with the integration degree of informatization and industrialization reaching 78.9%.
In fact, Chengdu has already formulated plans for building the national new industrialization demonstration city.
Xu Xingguo, Deputy Mayor of Chengdu, stated that a four-level special task force has been established, with multiple departments and districts collaborating to innovatively construct a "6+1+10" demonstration creation system. This includes six core demonstration tasks, one characteristic task for resident integration, which is further broken down into 60 specific implementable tasks. The core concept running through this can be summarized in one word: integration. This includes integration of science and industry, integration of clusters and chains, integration of digital and real economies, and integration of elements. Taking the integration of digital and real economies as an example, Chengdu will deeply implement three national-level pilot projects: technological transformation of the manufacturing industry, 5G+Industrial Internet, and digital transformation of small and medium-sized enterprises. The goal is to ensure full coverage of digital transformation for industrial enterprises above designated size by 2027. It will also deepen the "AI+" initiative, focusing on building a diverse computing power system encompassing supercomputing, intelligent computing, and general computing, and expanding into high-value scenarios like industrial large models and embodied intelligence.
Outside the meetings, the Chengdu manufacturing exhibition area provided a more vivid perspective.
In the photovoltaic sector, Tongwei Group, a Chengdu-based company, has held the top global spot for cell shippings for nine consecutive years. In the field of innovative drugs, "Made in Chengdu" products have repeatedly set national records for drug exports. In the low-altitude economy sector, Chengdu is home to listed drone manufacturers such as AVIC (Chengdu) UAS Co., Ltd., Chengdu Zongheng Automation Technology Co., Ltd., and Lihang Technology Co., Ltd. The city's industrial drone export volume and market share firmly hold the top position nationwide. In an interview, Cheng Wei, General Manager of Zongheng Automation's Shenzhen subsidiary, revealed that the company is advancing the "AI + drone" direction, developing "aerial embodied robots" by combining large models with aircraft to truly achieve unmanned drone operation. He stated that as a chain-leading enterprise, Zongheng Automation will continue to collaborate with upstream and downstream companies to improve the industry chain supporting, open up technology coordination channels, and nurture the industrial ecosystem. Through the agglomeration effect of a leading enterprise, it aims to elevate the overall capability of the drone industry.
From the implementation of new airworthiness regulations to the accumulation of industrial experience, the low-altitude economy's transition from "getting airborne" to "flying steadily" tests not only technology but also institutional innovation and coordination of the industrial ecosystem. Hu Tao, Deputy Chief Expert for Airworthiness and Safety at the China Aeronautical Establishment, believes Chengdu has three advantages: strong policy support, ample talent reserves, and rich logistics application scenarios. The Chengdu-Chongqing region, in particular, holds promising prospects for long-distance logistics transportation in central and western China.
Another type of "Made in Chengdu" product is accelerating its journey into space. Ren Zishu, Deputy General Manager of Sichuan Interstellar Glory Aerospace Intelligent Manufacturing Co., Ltd., disclosed that the company's headquarters base for reusable liquid launch vehicle production and testing, located in Shuangliu, Chengdu, will have its first phase of 150 mu (approx. 10 hectares) operational by the end of this year, with the second phase expected to be completed by the end of next year. Once fully built, it will produce 20 reusable rockets annually. "In low Earth orbit, to occupy the orbit is to possess it," Ren Zishu said. At the end of 2025, China formally submitted an application to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) for frequency and orbital resources for an additional 203,000 satellites. The ITU operates on a "first-come, first-served" principle. "Whoever has lower costs, faster reuse, and higher launch frequency will get the first-mover advantage," he added.
According to the "Chengdu Commercial Aerospace Innovation and Development Three-Year Action Plan (2025-2027)", by 2027, the scale of the city's commercial aerospace and related industries is targeted to reach 50 billion yuan, with over seven chain-leading enterprises and the creation of more than 70 innovative application scenarios.